Cumberland Lawn Tennis Club recently hosted a memorable day of friendly tennis, which saw long distance guests from as far as Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club (AUS), Longwood (USA) and Saga (JPN) take advantage of the opportunity to brush up on their grass court play ahead of last week's Wimbledon 150th anniversary celebration event.

Aside from the friendly competition, the teams were made to feel welcome with a special barbeque dinner and drinks.

The Centenary Tennis Clubs Association Committee of Management met this week at the Real Club de Tennis Barcelona-1899 on the occasion of the ATP Barcelona Open BancSabadell. Amongst other matters, the agenda of the meeting included the confirmation of this season’s competition calendar, which will be highlighted by the 2018 CTC Seniors Winners’ Group in Prague in September, where the various group winners from 2017 are due to battle it out for the organisation’s most coveted title.

Defending champions I.CLTK (CZE) will be aiming for a hat-trick of titles. They’ll be joined by Kung LTK of Sweden and HLTC Leimonias of Netherlands. Across Europe, 15 other club teams are set to compete in this year’s senior competition groups, which will be staged at SALK (SWE), Villa Primrose (FRA), Rott Weiss Berlin (GER) and Carrickmines (IRL), which will host an event for super-seniors.

The CTC calendar will also include junior competitions across Europe in three age groups (under 12, under 14 and under 16), plus a bilateral summer exchange between Carrickmines of Ireland and the RCT Barcelona (ESP). Earlier this month, Guayaquil of Ecuador staged 2018’s first international senior event, which saw participation from 8 south American clubs. Other events are scheduled to take place at the Royal South Yarra (AUS) and the West Side Tennis Club in New York (USA).

Founded in 1996 by eight European clubs, the CTC currently has 72 member clubs in four continents. Affiliated to Tennis Europe and recognised by the ITF, the Association’s main partner has been EFG International since 2010.